The element of surprise packs a powerful punch in the world of cinema, especially when a lead character is killed off. So what are the five best unexpected on-screen deaths?

Compiled by Tom Grater, a London-based film writer and founder of entertainment website Tom’s Cinema. You can also follow him on Twitter @tomsmovies. If you’ve got an idea for a future Clip joint, drop an email to adam.boult@guardian.co.uk.

In a world where any successful trope of film is regurgitated to death, directors have an increasingly difficult job if they want to catch us off our guard and deliver a genuine surprise. An unexpected death, particularly of a central character, is a plot twist that film-makers often fall back on when they want to shake their audience up. Below are five of the best examples.

Obvious spoiler warning! If you’re squeamish of blood you might want to avoid the clips below. There’s also a fair bit of swearing.

Quentin Tarantino’s films are littered with gleefully unexpected moments of impulsive, or accidental, homicide. There’s the “Goodbye Miss Laura” scene in Django Unchained, and the one from Jackie Brown where Robert De Niro finally loses his temper with Bridget Fonda. Topping them all is this completely unforeseeable calamity in Pulp Fiction.

It’s a tough choice between this particular scene from Infernal Affairs and its remake The Departed, but while a lot of the adaptation is shot for shot, Scorsese’s film adds just a touch of extra drama to this climactic moment.

While Brad Pitt‘s appearance on this list was by no means mandatory, he could have easily been here for Meet Joe Black, which offers a clever take on the tried and tested “unexpectedly hit by a bus/car” motif. However, this shocking moment from the Coen brothers‘ irreverent comedy Burn After Reading makes its way onto this canon via Pitt’s delightfully impish grin, etched permanently onto his face following his untimely demise.

Exceptional Aussie crime drama Animal Kingdom has an ending as surprising and satisfying as they come. Teenage protagonist Joshua has spent the majority of the film in fear of his villainous uncles, in particular the monstrous Pope (played by the superb Ben Mendelsohn), but in one brief moment he exacts an unexpected revenge. The clip includes quite a lot of build-up, making the finale all the more potent.

Regardless if you’re a musician or music consumer, your music life is about to change. Slowly but surely digital music distribution has been evolving from downloads to streaming, but that transition has been really picking up speed over the last 12 months. With Spotify leading the way thanks to reams of publicity, more and more consumers are finding that the joy of renting music beats owning it by a long shot.

First is the fact that Jimmy Iovine’s Daisy project (named after the first computer generated song) just received a $60 million injection from the likes of Warner Music Group’s ownerLen Blavatnik, Fort Worth billionaire Lee Bass and Australian financier James Packer. This is a serious investment by some deep pockets that know what they’re doing and don’t like to lose. Then comes word that Apple’s Tim Cook recently took a meeting with Iovine to be briefed on the project. Does that mean a collaboration? We don’t know, but at the very least, Apple has a good working relationship with Iovine, since he was one of the first to sign Universal MusicontoiTunesback in 2001. Together they’d be a powerhouse, a true 1200 pound gorilla. Chances are that Apple will chose to go it alone and just stay at 800 pounds though. It doesn’t need a partner, but if there’s something there worth buying, they have lots of money.

Then comes word that Google has been quietly making deals with all the major labels for their own YouTube-based subscription streaming service to be launched later in the year.

If all this were happening a couple of years ago we would’ve looked to only one of these prospective services to be left standing at some point, with the others falling by the wayside. But this is a different time, with the streaming business far more mature thanks to the likes of Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, Slacker, et al. It’s now probably possible that all of these new services survive if they’re at least half-way decent in their user operation and offerings.

This is definitely going to be a big win for consumers, with nearly an unlimited selection of songs available for a relatively small monthly fee (not sure what the price point will end up being, but $9.95 keeps being mentioned). Consumers are quickly seeing the advantages of renting their music.

It will be a different story for artists and songwriters however. By now everyone knows how little the royalty can be from a stream, with stories abounding about income lost by the writer and artist. Although a full transition to streaming will be a godsend for the labels, with steady monthly income actually bolstering their bottom line, you can bet that not much of that will trickle down to the artists – at least at first.

It’s not going to happen overnight, but within a matter of time, you’ll see the entirety of the management and law categories of the music business devise a better way to get paid, and eventually force the labels to fall in line. And when that happens, it will trickle down to the DIYers who insist on doing it their way. To what degree this all takes place, we’ll have to wait and see.

While we’re currently in the era of Music 3.0, we’re about to see the next stage of the music business. Welcome to Music 3.5! Read more here: http://bit.ly/X6Yx7o

Warner Music Group has struck a licensing deal with Google for two music services the technology giant is launching later this summer, according to executives familiar with the agreement. Google will offer two distinct subscription services – one through its YouTube online video property and another via its Google Play platform.

Executives at Warner, which is the first record label to commit to Google’s proposed music service, declined to comment. A YouTube spokesman issued the following statement: “While we don’t comment on rumor or speculation, there are some content creators that think they would benefit from a subscription revenue stream in addition to ads, so we’re looking at that.”

Google will be jumping into a fiercely fought market for on-demand music streaming. Spotify, Rhapsody, Muve Music, Slacker, Samsung Music Hub, Sony Music Unlimited and Rdio are among the current players slugging it out for dominance. And later this summer, Beats Electronics will re-launch a revamped MOG service, branded as Beats Music.

Google, however, will be coming to the party with several formidable advantages – YouTube and Android.

Its YouTube platform attracts 800 million unique viewers a month. That’s vastly more than the tens of millions of people worldwide who are estimated to be using on-demand streaming music services — both free and paid. In addition, Google’s Android operating system powered 68.4% of all smartphones shipped globally in 2012, compared with 19.4% for Apple’s iOS, according to Strategy Analytics.

If you missed it, Daft Punk premiered a 15-second clip of a new track, which likely features Nile Rodgers, in an ad during “Saturday Night Live” this past weekend. Lucky for you, some genius has looped the snippet for 10 straight hours, so you can get really psyched for the album. Wonder if it’s gonna be “Disco Fever” or “Disco Inferno” when the EDM bros finally get their hands on it? Read more here: http://aol.it/XSKeTU

The record turned 40 this week. To mark the occasion, Weekend Edition asked All Songs Considered hosts Robin Hilton and Bob Boilen where they were when they heard Dark Side for the first time. Hear the full version of this story by clicking the audio link on this page.

BOB BOILEN: Back in 1972, I worked in record stores in Rockville, Md., and a huge Pink Floyd fan. They were coming to the Kennedy Center, and I was totally, totally psyched. My hair was down on my shoulders, much like the band members. I’d give anything to have that hair back.

They came out and performed this piece of music. Everybody in the audience, no doubt, their jaws just dropped. You had no idea what it was — and you have to understand, in 1972, if you don’t know what it is, there’s nowhere to look it up. It was like, “OK, when am I ever going to hear this amazing music again?”

It was nearly a year later. The truck that was carrying that record, I knew where it was gonna show up so I could get the record, like, four hours earlier than I would have had I waited for it to come to the store I worked in.

ROBIN HILTON: I was probably 12 years old, and I was with a friend who had brought the record over. We were playing chess, and it just blew my little mind.

I remember the song “Time.” I can’t tell you how many college roommates I awakened in the middle of the night by blasting the alarm clocks going off. There’s this line in the song “Time” that still resonates with me today. I still think of it all the time, it says, “You’re young and life is long and there’s time to kill today.” Boy, the older I get, that sure turns out to be true.

It was so crazy to imagine how they could even pull this off; technically, how could they create these sounds? We’re hearing so much crazy stuff now in music and nobody gives it any thought — because you can do anything now, right? But when I listen to Dark Side of the Moon now, 40 years later, it still sounds fresh.

Regulatory body issues first report aimed at curbing the streaming and downloading of copyrighted content.

PARIS: Already home to some of the strictest anti-piracy laws for users, France’s Internet Authority (HADOPI) has issued a new report examining ways to curb usage of streaming and direct download sites.

Looking to stop piracy at the source, the report suggests a combination of techniques including site blocking or domain seizures if operators do not comply.

The authority suggests the implementation of content recognition by site owners, including digital fingerprinting technology. These systems could be used to remove content upon the request of copyright holders, similar to YouTube or DailyMotion, or restrict user access based on location.

If site operators are unwilling to add these mechanisms or if illegal content reappears on the site, the report suggests initial steps such as search engine de-listings. If sites fail to comply with the warnings, HADOPI suggests it could also resort to involving the the courts in order to seize or permanently block the domains.

The agency would also seek to target the finances of any sites subject to the copyright alerts, taking steps to block PayPal accounts, the use of credit cards and third party advertising. Again looking to the courts, HADOPI suggests that if financial partners refused to cooperate, it would seek legal action.

It may be a digital age, but live is still the big cash driver for the top 40 earners on our annual list

The U.S. music business offers a matrix of trends to satisfy chart watchers and number crunchers. New CD sales continue to fall. Digital music sales are rising nearly 10 years after the launch of the iTunes Music Store. Streaming and subscription revenue are growing as music lovers choose easy access over-and, sometimes, in addition to-physical ownership.

Concerts make up 68.9% of revenue for the 40 artists on Billboard’sMoneymakers list, which tallies artists’ annual earnings. Remove Adele and Taylor Swift, both of whom didn’t earn any U.S. touring income in 2012, and the average increases to 72.5%-a figure on par with the 72.6% in 2010 and the 68.3% that touring represented in 2011.

Madonna tops the 2012 list, in part because 93.5% of her total revenue came from concerts. Bruce Springsteen, a close second, earned 92% of his revenue from live shows. Roger Waters, a distant third, had the highest concert share on the list with 93.6%. The entire top 10 averaged 84.2% of their income from concerts, and the number would have been higher, if not for Justin Bieber‘s mere 60.1% share at No. 10 dragging down the average.

Billboard estimates the 2012 Moneymakers artists pocketed $373 million from concerts after paying agents, managers and expenses. That was up from $329 million in 2011 but down from $383 million in 2010. For all Moneymakers artists, touring income accounted for 72.8% of revenue in 2011 and 75.1% of revenue in 2012. Artists at the top of the list got an even greater share of revenue from touring. A top 10 artist made 84.2% of income from concerts in 2012 compared with 75.8% in 2011 and 81.7% in 2010.

Touring wasn’t vital for every act on the Moneymakers list. Two major artists, Swift — who topped last year’s rankings — and Adele, made the list without any concert earnings for the year. Meanwhile, two others-Mumford & Sons and Maroon 5-pocketed less than $1 million in concert earnings for 2012. In percentage terms, touring accounted for just 12.6% of Mumford & Sons’ total revenue and only about 2.6% of Maroon 5’s total.

Artists who made less than $1 million on the road tended to make more from recorded music — just as the negative correlation between concert revenue and music sales suggests should happen. Adele and Swift averaged $7.2 million in recorded-music sales while Mumford & Sons and Maroon 5 averaged about $3.2 million. The other 36 acts on the Moneymakers list, who each earned more than $1 million from touring in 2012, averaged just $2.3 million in recorded-music sales.

Read more details here: http://bit.ly/15HmGru

Streaming revenue wasn’t terribly important to any artist’s overall income as measured by Billboard-not even those artists with little to no touring income. This isn’t to say streaming didn’t have an indirect impact on these artists’ revenue. Without the promotional benefit of, say, YouTube, some albums would have hardly been as successful as they were last year. But in terms of pure, direct revenue, streaming provided a mere pittance for music’s top earners.

Maroon 5 had the highest streaming share of 2012’s Moneymakers list with 3.5%. Within that, the highest noninteractive streaming share was 0.5%, or one-seventh of the total. Drake had the second-highest streaming share with 3.3%, and One Direction had the third with 2.5%. It’s not surprising that Maroon 5’s “Payphone” and One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” were the No. 5 and No. 6 tracks, respectively, on Spotify in the United States in 2012. (Maroon 5 had two more songs in Spotify’s top 100 of the year.)